Steam engine



I Sept. 7 1926. 1,599,275

O. BILGER ET AL STEAM ENGINE Filed Nov. 6. 1924 I7 22@ I7 0"I ff /47/ /5 6/5/2 /6 QM/ /2 9 7,/'l` f/F /NVENTORS 'l2 /0 @zu. l

@Y/VZ? f Patented Sept. 7, 1926.

anais Bue'anANn iuainminiuiiv wiLLIAM "scHUL'ra'or wicni'rmfmsas.

Samir' :ninemsnv Appiicat'ion niedir'ovember-e, m4. sei-mira. 748,192.

This invention relates to steam "engines and it comprises a piston valve for steam engines comprising a` plurality of floating sna exhaust rings mounted adjacent the bu ring, to prevent the escape of steam into the exhaust ort until the port is opened by the piston va ve; and the invention further comprises a plurality of steamA admission floating snap rin s mounted ad]acent the bull rin and opposite the exhaust ringls,"

t e consideration is taken of the fact that in the whereby, W en saidvalve moves to close cylinder port after the intake of steam, the back pressure at the cylinder portserves to colla se one oi' said intake admission rings, but the other, having passed the port opening, snaps back into p cage, thereby preventing the vfurther intake of steam into the piston cylinder; and the invention further comprises :ip-plurality ot split rings each having a groove or seat for a dowel on the inner periphery at one end whereb when a plurality of such rings are assemb ed they may be held against the peripheral movement with respect to the bull rin by the dowel pin passing therethrough an resting in the recess and whereby such rings may be assembled'so that the split portions ofadjacent rings overlap while the ldowel engages all the recesses of the rings, thus preventing leakage of steam; all as more fully hereinafter 'set .forth and as claimed.

In order to operate cientl u sive fiirce vof the steam in the piston chamberbe utilized beforethe exhaust D opened to allow' its escape. To obtain this result it has been the common practlc'e to extend or lengthenv the exhaust lap of the valve. When this is done, the cylinder ort remains closed for an appreciable lengt i of time after the intake has been cut o 'and before the port is opened for exhaust. During this time, however, the valve continues a steam engine eliiits rectilinear movement and when the ring.

formin thel exhaust lap becomes `partially. `expose to back pressure from'the cylinder port, the concentric force of the port steam upon the wearing face of the ring tends to A collapse it and to permit the esca e of some of the steam into the exhaust. en such action occurs, a very considerable amount of effective piston pressure 1s wasted inasmuch as the artial exhaust takes lace before the piston as completed its stro e.. v In the conventional steam engine construcace against the valve it is essential that the entire expan` ort is end with ya bull ring, a single steam admission ring and 'a single exhaust ring. With such construction, however, the exhaust ring tioi i, the .pist'on valve is lprovided. at each A will lcollapse when about one-fourth of its width is drawn over the valve ca This is due to the port pressure acting upon loss of power resulting from the collapse of the exhaust ring is at once apparent when inside edge of the single exhaust ring is ex- 'posed to ort pressure until the moment the exhaust e ge is exposed. The single exhaust ports.

the. outside. of the ring. The tremendous ring now `substantially universally used in locomotive engines is from ve-eighths of an inch to elevn-sixteenths of an inch in width and is mounted on a valve having a range of travel of from two and three-fourths inches to six `inches.- About one-fourth of the widthpof the exhaust ring will present suicient surface to the port steam to close or collapse the ring: and consequently, steain will escape to ex aust in from tiveA and onehalf inches of piston travel -to six inches of piston travel sooner than it should. The retention and use of all ofthe steam in thev` piston cylinder during these 4five and onealf to six inches of 4piston travel is fully accomplished by the use of two .or more .adf .jacent exhaust sna rings.v

In the conventional.constructioxilof the piston valve, embodying but'a single adms- 4 -sion steam ring, the back pressure from the cylinder port collapses such ring when worn sufficiently and piston cylinder. This results in the travelling six and one-halfiuches in a t irtythree per cent cut 0H without the admission of more steam to the cylinders. f

It is the object of the present invention to provide a piston valve, Which will not the single admission steamv rin will not again snap back'to its ori 'nal ioo '105 without furtherintake of steam into the iston A permit the premature escapeof steam from a bull ring 13 of inverted U-shape and havthe piston chamber.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a piston valve which will effectively c'ut oli' the intake of steam into the piston .cylinder and without. leakage.

It isa further object of the present inventionito arrange the rings so that a single dowel may bel used to prevent their movement in the bull ring but at the same time position adjacent rings with respect to each other so that split ends overlap to prevent the esca e of steam;4

A still furt er object istoprovide a steam engine valve which is simple in construction and efiicient in operation, and which increases the efciency of the steam engine from the standpoint of power land economy in fuel; and to provide a valve which will prevent necessity of frequentl replacement4 lof the rings.

lThese objects are attained in the manner -to be described, reference being made to the accompanying drawing, in which Figure 1 is a sectional vieja7 of a preferred form ofthe present invention assembled on a steam power plant.

Figure 2 is a view, partly in sect-ion, of one end of the piston valve shown in Figure 1, showing bull ring and auxiliary steam admission snap 'rings and exhaust snap rings in assembled position, and

v Figure 3`is a view, showing the manner in which the offset recess is made in the snap rings, at the splitfor the dowel, whereby the adjacent rings engage the dowel in such a4 way that the split inone snap ring staggers the split in adjacent snap ring.

Referring tothe drawings:

Steamy cylinder 1 is provided with a piston 2 and at yeach end with steam ports 3 and 4, communicating with a valve' chamber V5, which in turn, has a reciprocatlng valve 6 mounted therein. The valve moves in port cage bushings 7 and 8 which overlie the steam ports 3 and 4 respectively, and which are formed ,with openings for the intake and exhaust 'of steam. Steam is admitted' to the valve chamber through open-L ing 22 and alternately to chamber 1 through ports 3 and 4.

Valve 6 is hollowand its end flanges are flared as shown more particularly in Figure 2. A head member is formed by a central hub 18 and a circumferential {iange 19 having formed integrally therewith a radially extending circumferential flange 20. The hub 18 is keyed to rod 14 and is held in iixed position by nut 21.

In the annular groove formed by the flared Joody portion 6 of the valve and the body portion of the bull ring 13 are mount# ed a plurality of floating snap rings designed to prevent leakage of steam. As shown in detail in Figure 2, they comprise ing lateral ianges, which. extend the width of the groove formed 4by member 6 and flange 20. Between the raised portion of bull ring 13 and the body portion of valve 6 are mounted two adjacent ioating snap rings 1l and 12, which form the function of a steam lap, or' steam admission ring, while between the raised portion ofthe bull ring 13 and the flange 20 there are mounted two adjacent snap rings 9 and 10 which comprise the exhaust end of the valve. It

is the usual practice to provide the piston valve with .but one exhaust ring, or where in certain types of engines employing more snap) rings. construction the valve starts to move and before reaching full exhaust the ring moves across the exhaust port until about one` rings of the valve constituting the vpacking are caused to positivel engage the port cage bushing Aand when su jected to direct port.

pressure,the outer kring is prevented from collapsing.

By cutting the 4offset recesses at the ends of the split rings as shown at 16 and 17 (Fi ure 3) one dowel 15 passing through the ull ring andvseated in the recesses or shoulders thus formed maybe used, `and split ends of adjacent-rings may be staggered with respect to each other Aand the lescape of steam between the rings be thus prevented.

In assembling the rings, the dowel being in position, the rings are placed on the piston valve adjacent each other and adjacent rings being reversed so that while there is a continuousr seat through all the rings engaging the dowel pins, nevertheless the split portions of the adjacent rings overlap.

While ordinarily we employ the ring described both as exhaust and pressure rings, we may nevertheless dispense with these rings iis-pressure rings and secure the advantages of the invention by simply using the adjacent split snap rings as exhaust rings on the piston valve.

What we claim is 1. The combination with a steam engine cylinder having ports in one side, and a piston movable in said cylinder between said ports, of valve cage bushings having ports registering with those in the cylinder, and a than one piston ring, to use integral (not When, however, with such4 piston valve having opposite end heads controlling said ports, each valve head having a bull ring provided with reduced ends forming annular grooves, two floating adjacent snap rings seateddn both the inner and outer end grooves, one of which is collapsible independently of the other to prevent a premature escape of steam from the engine cylinder. l

2. The combination with a steam engine cylinder having ports, of a valve cage bushing having ports registering with those in the cylinder, a piston. valve comprising a main body or stem portion, separate bull rings mounted at opposite ends of the stem portion, each bull ring having its opposite ends reduced in y'diameter to form annular grooves, and a plurality of oating adjacent, snap rings in each groove, the ring initially presented to port pressure being independently collapsible to prevent a premature escape of steam from the engine cylinder.

3. The combination With a steam engine cylinder having portson one side, of valve cage bushings having ports registering with those in the cylinder, and a valve having opposite heads controlling said ports, said valve heads 'each having a bull ring provided at each end with'an annular groove, a plurality of floating adjacent snap rings in each groove so arranged that when the inner exhaust ring passes the port opening and is collapsed the outer exhaust ring orrings will remainv expanded and in contact with y the cage bushing until they too have passed the port opening.

4. The combination with a steam engine cylinder having ports on one side, of valve cage bushings having ports registering with those in the cylinder, and a piston valve having opposite heads controlling said ports, eaclrvalve head having a bull ring provided at each end with an annular groove,- a plu rality of floating adjacent snap rings in each groove so constructed that when the valve moves to close the cylinder port after the intake of steam the back pressure at the cyl inder port serves to collapse one of said rings but the other or others, having passed the port opening, snap back into place against the valve cage bushing.

5. The combination with a steam engine cylinder having ports in one side, and a pis ton movable insaid cylinder between said ports, of valve cage bushing having ports registering with those in the cylinder, and a piston valve having opposite end heads c ontrolling said ports, each valve head having a bull ring provided with reduced ends forming annular grooves, two floating ad jacent split snap rings seated in each groove, said rings being recessed nea-r the slit portion and fixed means in the recesses to hold the rings so that the ends of adjacent rings Will be in staggered relation.

6. rIhe combination with a valve cage.

bushing provided with a port through which steam is admitted under pressure, of a valve'` head slidable in said bushing to control said port, ring holding means in said valve head and a plurality of oating adjacent snap -adjacent ring or rings remain snapped out against the bushing until they too are brought into register with the port.

7. The combination with a valve cage bushing provided with a port through which steam is admitted under pressure, of a valve head slidable in said bushing to control said port, a plurality of splitv rings mounted in abutting relation on said valve head each of said rings'be'ing grooved7 and a dowel pin adapted to'register with the grooves in said abutting rings whereby, when the rings are assembled on the valve head they'may be held against peripheral movement and in such manner that the split portions thereof eol overlap the ring initially presented to port.

pressure being independently collapsible to prevent a premature esca-pe of steam from the engine cylinder.

8. rlhe combination with a valve cage bushing provided with a port through which steam is admitted under pressure, of a valve head slidable in said bushing to control said port, the said valve head being formed with a peripheral groove, of a bull ring seated in said groove and defining a space on either side thereof, a plurality of split spring rings mounted in abutting relation in said spaces, the said spring rings being each provided with a groove in its inner periphery, and a dcwel pin adapted to be received in the aligned grooves of said abutting rings whereby, when assembled, they are so positioned that the split portions thereof over lap the ring initially presented to port pressure being independently collapsible to prevent a premature escape, of steam from the engine cylinder.

ln testimony whereof, -we have hereunto V aliixed our signatures.

ORRIS BlLGER. FREDERICK lWlLLlAlvl SCHULTZ. 

